Sermon Transcript
Bible Reading
1 Kings 1:15-37
Good morning. Today's Bible reading is 1 Kings, chapter 1, verses 15 to 37, and if you've got the Red Bible, that is on page 514.
So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. Bathsheba bowed down, prostrating herself before the king.
"What is it that you want?" the king asked.
She said to him, "My lord, you yourself swore to me, your servant, by the Lord your God. Solomon, your son, shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne. But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord, the king, do you not know about it? He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves and sheep, and has invited all the king's sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon, your servant. My lord, the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord, the king, after him. Otherwise, as soon as my lord, the king, is laid to rest with his ancestors, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals."
While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived, and the king was told, "Nathan, the prophet, is here." So he went before the king and bowed his face to the ground.
Nathan said, "Have you, my lord, the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you and that he will sit on your throne? Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves and sheep. He has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, long live king Adonijah. But me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon, he did not invite. Is this something my lord, the king, has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord, the king, after him?"
Then King David said, "Call in Bathsheba." So she came into the king's presence and stood before him. The king then took an oath, "As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, I will surely carry out this very day what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel. Solomon your son shall be king after me and he will sit on my throne in my place."
Then Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground, prostrating herself before the king and said, "May my lord, King David, live forever."
Then King David said, "Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada." And when they came before the king, he said to them, "Take your lord's servants with you and have Solomon my son mount on my own mule and take him down to Gihon. There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, 'Long live King Solomon!' Then you are to go up with him and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah."
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, "Amen. May the God of my lord, the king, so declare it. As the Lord was with my lord, the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord, King David."
This is the word of the Lord.
The story unfolds before our eyes. Adonijah, of course, is David's oldest son, hence his presumption.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray. Father, there are many good things. Many good things we could do, but Lord, it is the godly things that bear fruit. Teach us the difference. Help us to so look to you, to be so guided by you, to be so upheld by you, that we find that we are those who walk in your ways and so know your blessing for Christ's sake, amen.
Good Things and Godly Things
Good things and godly things. Well, we've come to the end of our series on David. I hope you've enjoyed it. I hope you've engaged with the material, those 60 odd chapters about David and his reign in your Old Testament.
We come today to 1 Kings, and if you keep on reading, you'll see the reign of Solomon. This is the stuff that your Sunday school classes were full of, right? All those great kind of pictures, we'll come across one in a minute.
Here he is doing his thing, and God is working out his way before him.
It's so important for us to see in the reading today the fulfilment of a promise. Yes, David's promise to Bathsheba, and if you read that part of the story, you'll know that Solomon was favoured by God, Jedidiah, I think was the name God gave him, loved by the Lord. So clearly, you know, here is the Lord's choice again. Here is the Lord's choice, and the promise is made by David, but, you know, the kingdom was in turmoil. We saw that last week, and we come to the end, and it's kind of which way will it fall?
And the oldest son, I mean, you know, that's how this thing works, right? His father's too old to kind of even get out of bed anymore, not quite sure he's making complete sense, you know, how it is with old men. And so he says, right, you know, for the good of the kingdom, isn't that how we do it? For the good of others, you know, I'm going to, and everybody goes, good idea, Adonijah, and they, you know, they're all saying long live King Adonijah, but David knows nothing about it.
It Is Good to See Those You Love Prosper
Please see Solomon being placed on David's throne as the first concrete step to the fulfilment of God's promise to David, that he would set a son on his throne forever. We know his name, don't we? The Lord Jesus. As a father, it is good to be proud of your children. I've got a picture of my children here, and I'm very proud of them. Oh, there we go, yeah, there they are, okay, there's my wife Rosie, oldest son Luke, second son James, and our youngest Danielle, I'm very proud of them.
Couple of stories. I can remember putting Luke, our eldest, on a tricycle for the first time, and when you put a toddler on a tricycle, the thing is just standing there, right, and you sit him on and he's so excited, and he grabs the handlebars and he goes like this, he says, what's this bit for, Dad? And you explain to him that when the thing was moving, he'd find out, and that would be okay.
Second son, he survived, by the way, second son, when he went to school, there was a paddock right by the pick-up area with some horses in it, and the kids would love to give the horses apples and the bits of their lunchbox they didn't eat and all that stuff.
And while we were waiting one day to go, a kid wanted to go and see the horse, I took James over and you pull up some long grass, have you ever done that, twist it into a kind of rod so that a little child can hold onto grass and hold it up to the horse because horses are quite big, and the horse started to chomp down the grass, and I had to tell him, let go of the grass, because the thing had his arm.
You just love kind of teaching them things when they're little, and then they grow up into these wonderful young people, and it's good as a parent, as a father, to be proud of your children and to see those you love prosper.
Well that's where we are today, that's where we've got King David and his whole family, it's been a bit of a mess, but it's kind of coming good, and Nathan the prophet has spoken about a son to sit on David's throne, and Solomon is the one God has chosen, and we actually see that whole promise begin to come into focus today.
2 Samuel 7:12-13
Let me remind you, I think I've got a slide for this one too, let me remind you of those, the words of the promise, 2 Samuel 7 and verse 12.
When your days are over, and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Now King David doesn't have long to go, in 30 verses he'll be dead, and he and all these people are waiting to see who will be king after him.
1 Kings 1:47-48
Solomon is chosen, and the king and his people rejoice, here are the words of David near the very end of his life, verse 47.
So the royal officials came to congratulate their lord the king saying, may your God make Solomon's name more famous than yours, and his throne greater than yours, and the king bowed in worship on his bed and said, praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.
Contrary to the kind of turmoil that can envelop transitions in rulership in some places, here is a predictable, helpful, visible transition from father to son. And so it begins, we begin to see in concrete form the promise of God working out, but Solomon only reigns for 40 years. David reigned for 40 years, Solomon only reigns for 40 years, and yes, his wisdom is world famous.
Even the Right Thing Can Be the Wrong Thing
The next slide please, you'll know this story from your Sunday school classes. Two women come before King Solomon, they're living in the same house, they both have newborn infants.
One infant has died in the night, and the kind of challenge before the king is to sort out whose baby is it, because one mother is saying, she switched my living baby for her dead baby. I woke up, the baby was dead, but it's not my baby, and the other one's saying, no, this is my baby, and how's the king supposed to tell the difference, do you know this story?
It's so good, he says, get me a sword, get me a sword, we'll cut the baby in two, and that will settle all arguments, you can have half each. And of course, one of the mothers says, that's fair, and one of the mothers says, no, don't hurt the child, give it to her.
Of course, King Solomon has solved the problem, hasn't he? The child is hers, give her the baby, so wise.
So this, and you want to keep reading, there's so much in this, the wisdom of Solomon actually recorded in the book, it's not the book of wisdom, what's it called, Proverbs, okay, in the book of Proverbs you'll see so many of Solomon's wisdom distilled there, keep on reading, you'll be well rewarded. He's such a great king, he reigned for 40 years, he was the one God had chosen, he was so wise, he had wealth, he had everything, don't read about it, it's great, but at the end, when Solomon dies, the kingdom is divided, never to be united again, and what does that do for the promise of God?
You see, it was God who brought David up from shepherding the sheep, to shepherd his people Israel, it wasn't David's idea. David was just doing his thing, and the brothers were waiting and the prophet was there, and they said, no, go and get the last son, and he was the one that was anointed, David didn't know anything.
God's idea, and David's going through his thing, being a king, and he's decided to build a house for the Lord, and that's all good, and he's being encouraged. And God sent prophet Nathan to him and said, no, no, don't you do that, your son can do that, you want to build a house for me, I'm going to build a house for you.
Again, it's not David's idea, it's God's idea, and when it comes to bringing to pass the promise that one of David's sons should sit on his throne, Adonijah, he's the oldest, the king's in bed, he can't even get up anymore, somebody's got to run this place, all right, I'll do it, summon the people, let's have a party, and I'll be king, except, no, because just like God drew David from the sheep and made him a promise about a son to sit on his throne forever, God has appointed an heir for David, it's Solomon.
So even the right thing can be the wrong thing, and so with the demise of David's royal line, because it just doesn't last, grows the expectation, grows the understanding, grows the anticipation that God hasn't finished with us yet. And even with all the political calamity that comes upon Israel, and there's a lot of it, hope in the promise of God only grows.
So you'll know that Israel were slaves in Egypt, and they were delivered under the hand of Moses, and it's the Exodus, okay, you're going to know that story. Well, things don't go so well for Israel, and there's a lot of reasons for that, and in the end, they kind of fall into the hands of the Babylonians, and that's Daniel and the lion's den and all that stuff, okay, so there's this gap when Israel kind of does its thing and then it falls in a big hole.
Jeremiah 33:14-18
Just before, I mean, while the Babylonians have encircled Jerusalem and are about to conquer the city, Jeremiah the prophet speaks, here's what he says,
Days are coming, declares the Lord, days are coming when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will make a righteous branch sprout from David's line, and he will do what is just and right in the land.
In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called the Lord our righteousness, for this is what the Lord says, David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.
Jeremiah 33:19-22
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, this is what the Lord says, if you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me can be broken, and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.
Can you hear it? Can you hear it?
Do you remember some guy called Abraham? Do you remember the promise made to Abraham right back in the beginning? He said, count the stars if you can, God says, I will make your descendants more numerous than the grains of sand on the seashore.
Here it is again. Even as Jerusalem is surrounded by the Babylonians, who will destroy the city? This is hard for us to understand and touches on what we talked about last week that even though God forgives us and our relationship with him is restored, he doesn't necessarily take away the consequences of our actions and Israel's behaviour brings about much unnecessary grief.
But still God is about his business, still keeping his promises.
If You Thought David Was Good
How significant is this promise that Nathan brought to King David that he would have a son to sit on his throne forever? How significant is that anyway?
Well, both Jews and Christians still define themselves by this promise. Did you know that? Both Jews and Christians still define themselves by this promise.
Even today, Jews look back to King David and to the promise of Messiah. Even today.
Even today, the big prestigious hotel in Jerusalem, got another slide for that, is called the what? What could that be called, that big prestigious hotel in Jerusalem? Can you think of a good name for that? Ready? King David. Yeah. Yeah, it's the King David Hotel.
And guess what street it's on? King David Street. So the whole hope of Israel is focused on this thing, that God will keep his promise to David and put a man on his throne forever, the Messiah.
So Jews define themselves by looking back to the promise of God. Christians, on the other hand, look forward. Look forward.
For we have seen God's gracious promise to David fulfilled in the person of Jesus, who, as to his human nature, was a descendant of David, and who, through the Holy Spirit, was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, Romans chapter 1.
Son of man. Son of God. We see in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and his ascension to heaven, one of David's sons taking up his throne forever.
Hebrews 1:1-5
Hebrews begins this way.
In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways.
But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the universe. The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
And after he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say, You are my son, today I have become your father?
There is Jesus seated at the right hand of the father in glory, seated on David's throne for how long? Forever. We call him great David's greatest son and say to all who will listen, if you thought David was good, the promise God has made about his son is even better. If ever you get into a conversation about faith with a Jewish person, remember that line. David is good. The promise we have made about his son is even better.
And you can be sure, next slide, that Mary was quite surprised when she was in her bedroom to be startled by an angel. She had a pretty nice bedroom.
Luke 1:30-33
But she had no trouble understanding what the angel said to her. Here's the Christmas story, folks.
But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
He'll be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.
So it's very hard to understand how somebody can be God and man. That's one of those great theological conundrums. But it's not hard to understand if you just look at the promise that God made David and think, well, here he is keeping it. One of David's sons to sit on his throne forever. Something that a human being cannot ever do. But if you are Mary's child, then you have all that is required.
A Promise Has to Be Believed
God made David a promise. God made David a promise. David believed that promise and let it shape his life.
Promises are powerful. If you let them in, if you give them a home, if you include them in your foundation, your identity, if you absorb, if you allow a promise to kind of soak into you, it will change you.
The promise God made to David was not just for David, but it was for God's people too. They would also know God's blessing if they believed the promise and that it shaped their life and behavior because that's what a promise does.
It needs to be believed for it to do its work. And you can think about it this way if you like. God is trying to give you a gift. Would you let him?
God's promise to David was a kingdom. We've seen David had to go through a lot to get his kingdom. But as long as he kept his eyes on the one who'd made the promise, things were pretty okay. That's why we've spent eight weeks looking at the life of David up and down, up and down. But when he kind of gets his orientation right, when he fixes his eyes on God, even if he's in a cave hiding from the King of Israel and 3,000 chosen men, it's okay. It's okay.
God's promise to us is of a son, a son of David who will bring God to us, who will unite us to God again in perfect fellowship, who will restore us to relationship with himself.
The son will be of David's line, but he will also be the son of God because his rule, his reign will last forever. This son we know is Jesus. He is the promise of God personified for all the promises of God are yes in him.
Great choice of song. In Jesus, you have all the promises of God enclosed in flesh as a person. And so when you met Jesus, you met the answer to all the promises of God.
But a promise, as I said, has to be believed if it is to do you any good. It has to be received, has to be taken in, absorbed, trusted. That's the word, isn't it?
When somebody makes you a promise, it only comes into play if you trust them. So here's a question. Is God trustworthy? Does he keep his promises?
And my hope is that your personal testimony is, I am someone to whom God has been faithful. He has kept his promise to me. Can you say that? That's your testimony.
That's all people need to know about God, that he keeps his promises and that he's kept his promises to you.
You might be in the middle. I know you are in the middle of some things that are unresolved. Sure. Trust God.
That's exactly where you need to put your trust. When it's unsettled, let the promise of God in. Let it do its work. And don't just believe it once.
Oh yeah, you know, I believed in 1947, right? No, no. No, you need to keep on doing that every day because the challenges are new every day. The tension, the stress, the worry, it's new every day.
No, you need to keep on trusting him every day. Just let it soak in and deeper and deeper. And if you are a believer this morning, just keep on believing. Keep on trusting.
Even when disaster overtook David as he took his eyes off God, when he came back, it sort of righted.
And so this has been a, I've really enjoyed preaching this series. Thanks for letting me do that. I hope you've enjoyed it too.
We're finishing now and I want you to go out from here, to go out from this series confident that what God has promised in the world, he will do. That what God has promised in this church, he will do. And that what God has promised in your life, he will do.
If only you'll let him. If only you'll just keep on being open.
Acts 2:38-39
Wonderful words of encouragement in Acts. I know I've used them before, but here we go again. Acts chapter two.
Friends, the promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.
The promise is for you.
Here's what you should do. Peter says,
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,
which happens to be the theme of our next eight weeks of sermons.
So what does it mean to believe the promise of God and to let that in? It means to receive the Holy Spirit, and then we get to work.
